Thursday, 13 July 2017

‘Next generation of militants may emerge from academic institutes’

KARACHI: Leading academicians have called
for a coordinated and strong policy to check extremism that they believe is no
more limited to conventional madressahs (seminaries) but can now be found in
reputed public and private educational institutions, negating the ‘myth’ that
radicalisation is linked with poverty and illiteracy.

They expressed these views at a seminar
titled ‘Growing radicalisation in educational institutions’, which was
organised by the Sindh police’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) at the
Central Police Office on Wednesday.

They sought immediate guidelines from every
concerned segment of society including law enforcement and intelligence
agencies to build a counter-narrative against extremism, which was fast
attracting the educated youth of the province.

Vice chancellors and other officials of
around 40 varsities, both private and public, attended the seminar.

The law enforcers and academics agreed to
set up vigilance committees, enhancing surveillance, organising seminars at
varsity auditoriums to sensitise the faculty members and students. They also
promised to take up ‘practical issues’ with higher authorities.

Officials of CTD, 40 varsities exchange
views on radicalisation

“Radicalisation [is] growing at academic
institutes with the CTD assessing that the next generation of militants [is]
more likely to have university education rather than a madressah background,”
said Additional IG Dr Sanaullah Abbasi who heads the CTD in Sindh.

“The recent cases of Noreen Leghari and Saad
Aziz gave credence to this theory,” he added.

Dr Abbasi said the seminar was meant to
start a discussion between varsity administrations and law enforcers to
identify problem areas related to youth radicalisation and to see what possible
solutions can be adopted.

The CTD chief said there’s a need to
sensitise academic institutes about the gravity of the problem.

Citing the case of Noreen Leghari who was
radicalised through ‘social media’, the CTD SSP Operations said the varsity
administration later told them that they had “detected certain behavioural
changes” among several girls of the medical university, as a group of 10 to 15
girls used to attend ‘dars’ in ‘isolation’.

“There [is] a thin line between preaching
and radicalisation,” observed Mr Shaikh.

CTD’s SSP (Intelligence) Omar Shahid Hamid
said the department had assessed that youths that had been radicalised at
academic institutes were “sophisticated and trained”.

“Radicalisation is growing and we fear that
the militants are more likely to emerge from secular academic institutes,” said
the CTD officer.

Mr Hamid cited the case of a 31-year-old
man who studied at the prestigious Karachi Grammar School (KGS), graduated from
LUMS and later on started teaching at the KGS. He was radicalised to the extent
that he went to Waziristan, where he got injured in a drone strike. “Now he’s
working on de-radicalisation after realising the horrible consequences,” he
added.

A global agenda

CTD officer Raja Umar Khattab said
radicalised youths of certain seminaries tended to indulge in sectarian
violence or go to ‘jihad’ in Afghanistan but certain youths of academic
institutes had a global agenda and they wanted to fight wars.

Citing the case of Saad Aziz and 19 other
cases of radicalised youths, Mr Khattab disclosed that their parents knew of
their drift towards extremism but they did not inform law enforcers. He said
some educated and rich youths of Defence, Gulshan, Gulistan-i-Jauhar and
Nazimabad were joining the global militant outfit, Islamic State group.

Referring to the case of a private
university teacher who trained his son and other close relatives to prepare
improvised explosive devices (IEDs), he said that faculty member became a ‘most
wanted’ person.

Mr Khattab also cited another case of a
faculty member of an academic institute in Clifton who radicalised one youth
there.

CTD officer Mazhar Mashwani gave the
example of an NED graduate who was radicalised and highlighted the need for
strict surveillance at academic institutes.

VC Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Lyari,
Akhtar Baloch underlined the importance of adopting ‘counter-narrative’ to
address the militancy issue. He regretted that the society was ‘militarised’ by
eliminating liberal and progressive forces during the past 30-40 years through
a particular narrative.

KASBIT Director Prof Mohammad Raees said
radicalisation on campus was a ‘social phenomenon.’

Acting VC of DUET Dr Roshan Rashidi
questioned the role of 10-12 intelligence agencies’ personnel operating at each
varsity if they could not detect militancy there.

Pro-VC of NED University Dr Mohammad Tufail
said identifying behavioural changes among the students was not ‘possible’ for
them, because they were not trained for this. However, he said they were ready
to cooperate with law enforcers and train people.

An official of LUMHS said after the Noreen
case, they were monitoring students but the issuance of show-cause notice or
strict disciplinary action could be counter-productive. He said they had
recently noticed a change in behaviour of six girl students and informed their
parents about their possible radicalisation.

Director of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University,
Nawabshah, Roshan Ali Siyal said they had set up a vigilance team after the APS
tragedy in Peshawar and tended to call parents if any student was found having
strange behaviour.

MUET registrar Dr Abdul Waheed Umrani
observed: “We cannot mitigate the problem but we can prevent militancy with the
help of government and law enforcers.”Chairman of Sindh University’s
Criminology Department Nabi Bux Narejo said the faculty did not consider
fighting terror or extremism as their ‘domain’, because VCs were not ready for
it and they had no access to law enforcers; besides there were issues of lack
of funding or lack of any such post at academic institutes to keep watch on
militancy.Director of the People’s Medical University, Nawabshah, Mohammad
Salih said agencies’ personnel were ‘interfering’ in their administration and
financial affairs but they were not playing their role to prevent militancy on
campus.An official of Bahria University, Commander Naveed, said they were
observing activities of students and sent them to counselling cell if any
behavioural change was observed among them.

Besides, they had restricted entry of
guests or outsiders into the varsity.Pro-vice chancellor of the Shah Abdul
Latif University, Khairpur, Dr Noor Ahmed Shaikh proposed seeking help of
psychiatrists to monitor activities of students and involving the HEC in this
regard.

About Me

Dr Shabir Choudhry has done extensive research on the issue of Kashmir and Indo Pakistan relations. He passed BA Honours in Politics and History, and Mphil in International Relations (title of the thesis, ‘Kashmir and Partition of India’); and title of his PhD thesis is ‘Kashmir- An issue of a nation not a dispute of a land’.

Apart from this Dr Shabir Choudhry passed Post Graduates Certificates in Education, and NVQ Assessor’s qualifications; and taught English in London.

Political Achievements

Founder member of JKLF (Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front established in 1977) and got elected as a Press Secretary in 1984.

Became its Secretary General in 1985, and resigned from this post in 1996.

Got elected President of JKLF and Europe in May 1999, and decided not to contest in elections of July 2001.

Said good - bye to the JKLF as it is in many groups and is largely seen as advancing a Pakistani agenda on Kashmir dispute, and set up a new party Kashmir National Party in May 2008.

.

At present, he is:

·Spokesman Kashmir National Party and Director Diplomatic Committee;

·Spokesman for International KashmirAlliance;

·Founder member and Director Institute of Kashmir Affairs;

Previously

·A founder Member and Trustee/ Director of London based registered charity, Kashmir Foundation International and resigned from this position in August 2001.

·Regularly take part in the Sessions of the UN Human Rights (Commission) now Council in Geneva; and address various conferences and seminars to oppose violence and highlight the Kashmir cause.

·Participated in a Round Table Conference on Kashmir, organised by Socialist Group of European Parliament in Brussels in 1993.

·Addressed as a Chief Guest in a seminar on issue of Mangla Dam during the UN Sub Commission’s proceedings in August 2003.

·Addressed as a key - note speaker in a seminar on the issue of Gilgit and Baltistan, organised by Association of British Kashmiris.

·Addressed as a keynote speaker on human rights conference in Paris in 1991.

·Addressed at CambridgeUniversity as a Chief Guest in a conference on Kashmir in 1990.

·Addressed as a keynote speaker at New Delhi conference on Kashmir, which was part of Track Two diplomacy in November 2000.

·In September 2008, addressed a Conference arranged by Interfaith International in Geneva, topic of which was:“Kashmir Issue, Terrorism and Human Rights”.

·Addressed as a speaker in a NGO Conference on Self - Determination in Geneva in August 2000.

·Addressed as a keynote speaker in a fringe meeting of Liberal Democrats at their Annual Conference in Brighton in 1995.

·Participated in World Human Rights Conference in Vienna in 1993.

·Before President Clinton's visit to India and Pakistan in 2000, lead a JKLF delegation to the State Department to discuss Kashmir dispute and situation in South Asia.

·Also had two rounds of meetings with senior State Department officials before President Musharraf’s meeting to Washington in June 2003.

·Apart from that had meetings with senior officials including Ministers of different countries, and also held many meetings with the State Department and Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials on number of occasions.

·Played important role in advancing a Kashmiri perspective on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir; and also helped Baroness Emma Nicholson with her report ‘Kashmir: present situation and future prospects’, which was adopted by the European Parliament in May 2007.

·Won first prize in an essay competition in Urdu in 1976. It was organised by High Commission of Pakistan in London, and title of the essay was 'Qaaid-e- Azam's role in Islamic History'.

·Apart from that have addressed conferences in Brussels, Geneva, Toronto, Islamabad, Delhi, and

Publications

·Got first Urdu novel ‘Fareena’ published at the age of eighteen.

·Second Urdu novel ‘Bay-Khataa’ which was about the problems of Asian youths living in UK published in 1983.

·Third Urdu book ‘Pakistan and Kashmiri struggle for independence’ published in 1990.

·Fourth Urdu book is also on Kashmiri struggle, 'Is an independent Kashmir a conspiracy?'

·Apart from that has twenty books and booklets published in English on various aspects of the Kashmiri struggle.

·Recent publications are: Kashmir dispute as I see it

·Different perspective on Kashmir

·JKLF visit to Pakistan Administered Kashmir

·Kashmir Needs Change of Heart

·If not self - determination then what?

·Emma Nicholson report- who has won?

·Struggle for independence, Jihad or proxy war (Introduction by Baroness Emma Nicholson)

·

Future publications

Following books were completed some time ago and shall be published in near future:

In Search of Freedom - My visit to Srinagar and Islamabad

Kashmir and Partition of India

A brief background

Dr Shabir Choudhry was born in a small village called Nakker Shimali (near Panjeri) in District Bhimber, Azad Kashmir. He went to UK in 1966, and like other people from the region, holds a dual nationality. He left secondary school in 1970 with no qualifications and began his life as a textile worker.

In 1975 he started part time studies and passed Matriculation from Government High School Panjeri, passed ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels from UK, and resumed full time degree course in 1981, and passed BA (Hons) in Politics and History in 1984.

He continued full time and part time jobs until he got his Mphil. He passed his PGCE (Post Graduates Certificate in Education) in 1990, and then started full time job as a Lecturer. Due to health problems he resigned from teaching in 1999. At present he is self - employed, provides private tuition, translation and interpretation and consultancy.

Through out his adult life he has actively worked for the cause of Kashmir, and even during long illness he effectively carried out his responsibilities as a leader of the JKLF, a ‘prolific writer’ and consistent campaigner of Rights Movement and peace in Jammu and Kashmir and South Asia.